Blogging on the Ground

The Polk Family

The Polk family decided in November 2010 to pack up and move to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, to join the AIDS Care and Treatment Project and work in the areas of church planting and counseling/mental health among the urban poor. Thanks for reading our blog and for walking through this journey with us.

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Summer Ministry

Summer moves on, both here in New York City where Liz and I are completing a month of cross-cultural ministry training, and also in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, where the Aids Care and Treatment Project is hard at work with its summer ministry activites.

First, New York. The Polk family landed at La Guardia airport on July 1, and it has been pretty much non-stop ever since. We have really been enjoying the city, with all of its diversity, energy, and life. New York is a great town. We are living in the Forest Hills neighborhood on the east side of Queens, and have been helping Ascension Church with its Vacation Bible School program. This week we have been corralling and teaching 150 kids from the local neighborhood through the “Kingdom of the Son” curriculum, which takes the kids through the Lord’s Prayer using an East African safari theme. Last Friday night, we had our big VBS closing program. Liz’s class of 1st and 2nd graders (the Amazing Antelopes) recited their memory verses and sang a song about how much our Father God loves them. Jason’s 3rd, 4th, and 5th graders (the Lively Lions– and boy were they “lively”) sang a couple songs as well, and then for the grand finale they recited the entire Lord’s Prayer in Swahili. We were very proud of all of them. In addition, the closing program gave the opportunity to share the gospel with the parents and families of all the kids, many of whom are not believers in Christ. It was a tiring, but really good week.

Next– Addis Ababa. Our Aids Care and Treatment Project teammates have been hard at work leading various ministry activities this summer. Kids Programs, School Uniform distributions, continuing AIDS care, community development and income generation projects, and the list goes on. Here’s a brief video that captures some of the moments from this summer.http://www.vimeo.com/26465816

Thank you to all who are praying and giving toward these ministries. It means so much to us. Blessings from the Polks…